I am pleased
to announce that Ms. Hilary J. Baker has accepted the appointment
as the university’s new Chief Information Officer (CIO). The
CIO will continue to report directly to me and serve as a member
of the President’s Cabinet. She begins her appointment July
31.

Ms. Baker has
been associate vice president and chief information officer at Pepperdine
University since 2004. Her prior positions include senior director
of Common Management Systems in Information Technology Services
at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, and successive appointments
at the J. Paul Getty Trust, including manager of information systems.
She has been active within her profession and as a consultant, and
has more than 20 years of information technology experience in the
higher education and nonprofit environments. She holds a joint honors
bachelor of science in mathematics and geography from the University
of Birmingham, England, and a master’s in architecture and
urban planning from UCLA.

Information
technology (IT) increasingly has become an essential and pervasive
part of our core endeavors on campus. It has become an integral
part of the way teaching and learning occurs here, it is central
to the way we communicate, and it has enabled us to streamline many
of our administrative and business processes. Given the essential
role that it has in support of our mission and goals, information
technology is a resource that demands careful, effective management
and leadership. For these reasons, I am pleased to welcome to the
university someone of Ms. Baker’s experience and reputation.
I look forward to her contributions and leadership in heading our
Information Technology Resources (ITR) division, and in her working
as part of the university’s senior leadership team.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the
search committee for their fine work. The committee members were
Provost Harry Hellenbrand, who served as chair, University Library
Dean Susan Curzon, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources
Bob Foldesi, Professor of Health Sciences Brian Malec, and Professor
of Computer Science Gloria Melara.

Finally, I also
wish to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Bob Moulton for his service
as interim chief information officer since October 2005. When he
arrived on campus, he immediately faced challenges with the dependability
and stability of the university’s IT systems. He also was
charged with reviewing and implementing the recommendations submitted
by consultants who assessed Cal State Northridge’s IT operations.
Though he came from off campus, Mr. Moulton quickly assimilated
into the campus community, gained the trust of the ITR staff and
senior campus leaders, and made much progress in a relatively short
time. Because of his commitment and initiative, Mr. Moulton leaves
behind an IT operation that is higher performing and more dependable
and customer-service oriented.